PolluterWatch Blog

Koch throws ALEC under the bus to dismiss George Zimmerman funding rumor

Amid public outrage over the acquittal of George Zimmerman after the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, Koch Industries wants to clarify something: they did not finance Zimmerman's legal defense...but they did and do continue to fund the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which took up the NRA's Stand Your Ground law in Florida and spread it to over two dozen other states.

Using their Koch "Facts" website, lobbyists at Koch Industries pushed back on the Zimmerman rumor and cite Snopes, a popular reference for confirming or debunking rumors. Snopes explains how Koch has backed ALEC's operations, including peddling Stand Your Ground laws that increase homocides:

"A rumor claiming that Koch was paying the legal fees of George Zimmerman, the defendant in the Trayvon Martin shooting case, and calling for a boycott of Koch-owned paper companies began to spread in mid-April 2012. This rumor appears to be tied to a combination of George Zimmerman's launching a web site soliciting donations for his lawyers and living expenses and news reports linking Koch to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative policy group "that came under attack after the Trayvon Martin shooting for pushing Stand Your Ground gun laws nationwide".

ALEC's work for Koch and other companies has resulted in a barrage of bad state policies, taken home by ALEC's member state legislators who then turn a wishlist of corporate-crafted bills into law. Koch in particular is interested in ALEC's polcies to prevent action on climate change at every opportunity, blocking accurate teaching of climate science in K-12 schools, promotion of fossil fuel extraction, attacking clean energy incentives, limiting liability for corporations when their actions harm the public, and other cynical tactics that undermine the public interest.

Koch Industries is a member of ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture task force. Koch lobbyist Mike Morgan sits on ALEC's national corporate board and the Koch brothers' foundations have given hundreds of thousands to ALEC's general operations, supporting a wide variety of issues including the dissemination of the NRA's Stand Your Ground laws. 49 corporations and 6 nonprofits have stopped supporting ALEC due to Stand Your Ground, Voter Suppression and other controversial policies, including Wal-Mart, the nation's largest gun retailer. Meanwhile, Koch has stood behind ALEC during controversy after controversy.

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PolluterWatch is a project of Greenpeace that holds polluters accountable for the work they’re doing to block the transition from the dirty fossil fuels of the past to the clean energy sources of the future.

The science is clear: We must take immediate action to avert the worst effects of global warming. But polluters, their lobbyists, and the politicians who work with them are holding the climate debate hostage and poisoning the debate about policies that would lower our greenhouse gas emissions and kickstart a clean energy revolution. Help us hold the polluters accountable. Get in touch today and find out how you can help. Learn More